February 24, 2015

Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything new. It’s not, however, because nothing good has been going on in the world of Brazilian baseball. In fact, a lot of great things have been going on. Here’s a recap of the highlights:

– The Nippon Blue Jays closed out 2014 with a victory over GECEBS in the 21st edition of the Brazil Baseball Cup. NBJ’s Salomão Koba drove in the winning runs with the scored tied at 2, and with 2 strikes and 2 outs. Pretty dramatic stuff that was televized live on the internet and can be seen still via the links on the CBBS Facebook page.

– Earlier this month, Brazil National Team Manager (and Hall of Famer) Barry Larkin & Friends were back at the 5th installment of the MLB International Brazil Elite Camp, which brought together the best young prospects in Brazil for workouts in front of MLB scouts. Here’s what Larkin had to say about it on the MLB Network.

– Last month, the Toronto Blue Jays signed Italian Baseball League veteran pitcher Tiago da Silva to a minor league contract with an invitation to their big league team’s spring training camp. Da Silva, who’s a native Brazilian but has actually played for the Italian national team in two WBCs as well as in numerous European championships, pitched last season in the Mexican Baseball League for the Delfines del Carmen, where he posted a 7-4 record with a 2.07 ERA/0.90 WHIP and 29 saves in 51 appearances. Since the Mexican league is considered essentially at the same level as Triple A, those are pretty impressive numbers for someone with no prior North American pro ball experience. Da Silva, who turns 30 this March, is probably a long shot to make the big league roster out of camp, but if he does well enough in the spring and in the minors he could be on the short list to provide some bullpen help if the Blue Jays need it during the season. If anything, da Silva does have the advantage of being a relative unkown to U.S. minor and major league hitters.

– This Saturday, February 28th, is the start of the 13th South American Baseball Championships, taking place in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil. In addition to the host country, other participants are Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and Peru. While Cuiabá is not considered a traditional baseball stronghold, it is an opportunity for the sport to continue getting more exposure in other parts of Brazil. No doubt, Brazil will have one of the deepest teams in the tournament. As usual, it features an eclectic mix of players with US and Japanese pro ball experience, young up and comers and long time local journeymen.

Below is the Brazil roster. Players with US pro experience are indicated in bold, guys with Japan pro/semi-pro ball experience are in italics (*indicates experience in Italian semi-pro/pro ball):

Many of these players, including Jean Tomé, can both pitch and play multiple positions in the field, so depth shouldn’t be an issue. The winner of this tournament gets the last open spot in the 2015 Panamerican Games, taking place in Canada later this year. Boa Sorte Brasil!

December 9, 2014

First of all, for all of you MLB executives currently meeting in beautiful San Diego: you’re all overpaid idiots if you’re not, at some point along the way, talking about the potential of baseball in Brazil.

That said, let’s get into the latest happenings in the world of Brazilian baseball:

- The semi-finals of the 21st Annual Adult Baseball Brazil Cup will be taking place at the venerable Mie Nishe Stadium in São Paulo, on December 20-21. The final four teams contending include the powerhouse Nippon Blue Jays, GECEBS, Mogi das Cruzes and Atibaia. Probably the best place to get in depth coverage is on the CBBS Facebook page. I’m hoping the games are televised as well. Check Baseball Live Brazil periodically as they may be carrying the games.

– The CBBS has named the fifty youth players who will be participating in the MLB Elite Brazil Camp, Jan 26 – Feb. 4, 2015. You can see the list of players here on the CBBS web site. Basically, anyone with the first name of Gabriel is worth taking a look at. All joking aside though, this list is stocked full of guys who have a lot of international tournament experience since they were 8 years old and who have been tearing it up for their respective club teams. I will attempt to provide some more in-depth info on each player in a future post.

- The CBBS has named its preliminary roster for the South American Championships, taking place in Peru the 10th -17th of January, 2015. The names that jump right off the list include Andre Rienzo, Oscar Nakaoshi, Jean Tome, Marcel Viana, Felipe Talos, Allan Fanhoni, Felipe Burin, Leonardo Reginatto, Pedro Okuda, Lucas Rojo, Reinaldo Sato, Paulo Orlando and Thiago Magalhaes. This is an extremely deep and veteran group with lots of pro experience (both in U.S. and Japanese leagues). Moreover, most of this squad has been training together in Brazil since the end of November.

- Brazil’s U11 national team came in second place for that age group’s Pan American Championships held in Mexico City last month. Believe or not, Panama finally beat a Brazilian team in international play to take the championship. More info on the tournament can be found on the team’s blog.

Congratulations to Yan Gomes for winning the 2014 Silver Slugger award at the catching position! Fellow Cleveland Indian Michael Brantley also won the Silver Slugger as an outfielder. This is Yan’s first major MLB award, and man it was a big one! I guess that’s what 21 home runs, 74 RBIs, a .278 batting and .785 OPS , while also becoming one of the best defensive catchers in the game, will do for you. Parabens!

courtesy of Baseball Live Brazil

In case you missed it, the 21st Annual Adult Brazil Baseball Cup starts this weekend. There will likely be a number of pro (MLB minor league) players returning to their home clubs to participate. The good news is that Baseball Live Brazil will have live coverage of the tournament. You can catch all of the action at: http://www.b-live.net.br/. By the way, although it is in Portuguese, they did a great write up of the history of this tournament on their Facebook page.

Photo Credit – El Universal Venezuela

Also, what a week Paulo Orlando had! First, he got player of the week honors in the Venezuelan Winter Baseball League with the Cardenales of Lara, then it was announced that he has been added to the Kansas City Royals’ 40 man roster. It’s about time Orlando has gotten some recognition, although a super crowded Royal outfield may continue to block him from breaking in with KC. I predict if it doesn’t happen with the Royals, there are plenty of other MLB teams with pressing outfield needs where Orlando could at least get a look in The Show during the 2015 regular season.

October 13, 2014

Brazil U-14 Team at Pan American Championships in Nicaragua – photo credit: CBBS

There was a lot of international baseball going on this past month for the young Brazilian national teams.

First off, Brazil’s U-18 national team finished in 5th place at the Pan American Championships in La Paz, Mexico. After starting off the tournament going 2-4, Brazil finished strong going 3-0, winning against Panama (they just keep owning Panama!), Argentina and Ecuador. Some of the top young players in Brazil participated in this tournament participated, including Gabriel Ferrucci, Gustavo Paz, Lucas Sakay, Matheus França, Gabriel Clovier, Wesley Almeida, Massao Houra, Keyne Kitayama, Eric Omokawa and Lucas Moya. More information can be found on the CBBS website as well as the team group Facebook page.

Meanwhile in Ecuador, the U-11 national team took on the home country, along with Peru and Colombia in the South American Championships. Lots of great pictures and information can be found on the team’s Word Press page. Brazil finished in 3rd place with a 19 x 4 victory over Peru.

Finally, last week the U-14 national team finished in 4th place out of 6 teams in the U-14 Pan American Championships in Nicaragua, losing to the home team in 3rd place game. Though there’s not really a centralized repository of tournament information on this one, you can find the various updates on the CBBS news page.

Back in Brazil, the Nippon Blue Jays continued their domination by winning the 2nd Annual U-16 Los Angeles Dodgers Cup (otherwise known as the 4th Annual João Nakaie Cup). Felipe Kimura of NBJ had the highest batting average at .714 and drove in the most runs with 4. Felipe’s teammates, Vitor Yamauchi, was named MVP and Alexandre Taguti was named best pitcher.

This month, MLB plans a return to Brazil and Argentina for open tryouts for its Elite Camp, which takes place in end of January/beginning of February of 2015. These open tryouts will take place in Buenos Aires, Maringá, Marilia and Ibiúna later this month. The top players will move on to the Elite Camp next year. More information can be found here.

In other news, a new group called beisebol.org Brasil has been established to sell baseball equipment in Brazil, along with putting on special baseball-related events. The group is working in conjunction with MLB and the CBBS.

Over in the amateur ranks, Underdogs won the Liga São Paulo de Beisebol championship two weeks ago by defeating Bats 12 x 0. Underdogs are now the LSPB two time defending champions. More information can be found on the LSPB Facebook page.

In the professional ranks, after an impressive run in with the Triple A Omaha Storm Chasers (KC) this season (where they won both their league and Triple A championships) outfielder Paulo Orlando has reported to the Cardenales de Lara in the Venezuelan Winter League, where he played last off season. If it weren’t for Kansas City already being so stacked in the outfield, Orlando probably would have gotten a call up this past season. As it is, there’s probably plenty of MLB teams scouting him for their 40-man rosters. Boa sorte, Paulo!

Over in the Dominican Winter League, Chicago White Sox pitcher Andre Rienzo has joined the Leones de Escogido. Hopefully Rienzo can regain his 2013 and early 2014 form that got him the call up to the Big Leagues. Boa Sorte, Andre!

September 5, 2014

Let’s get right into it! Last week, the Confederação Brasileira de Beisebol e Softbol national team announced it has pre-selected a pool of players for the South American baseball championships, taking place in Peru in late Novermber/early December of this year. This roster would also represent Brazil in the 2015 Panamerican championships:

Of the guys who are currently listed with Brazilian teams, five players (Talos, Vianna, Talos, Okuda and Murakami) have pro ball experience in the U.S. minor leagues. There are also two Cuban-Brazilians (Chacon and Muniz) on the roster with extensive international experience. All told this is a very deep and talented pool and they don’t even have 2011-2012 WBC veterans catcher Yan Gomes or pitcher Murilo Gouvea on the roster. Thanks to Baseball Live Brazil for providing this list.

Speaking of Muniz and Chacon, both players were instrumental in Marília winning the 68th Annual Adult Brazilian Inter-Club Championships back on August 24th. Muniz was named MVP of the tournament, hitting .588 and 3 home runs. Chacon was named Most Valuable Pitcher. Marilia beat the Nippon Blue Jays 13 to 2 in the final game. Results and stats of the final round can be found here.

In the Liga São Paulo de Beisebol, Bats play the Indians, and the Underdogs face off against the Red Foxes in round-robin playoff games this September 14th. The LSPB playoff bracket can be seen here.

Back in the CBBS, last weekend Pereira Barreto won the U-12 14th Annual International Baseball Championship (international because it featured Aleu, from Peru). Arthur Alves Sabino of Pereira Barreto was named both MVP and Most Valuable Pitcher of the tournament. Tournament results info. can be found here.

August 20, 2014

US Navy sailors play baseball in Natal during WWII – photo credit Baseball Live Brazil

Here’s an update on all things happening in the world of Brazilian Baseball:

– Last month, Pereira Barreto won the CBBS-sanctioned U-1222nd Annual Brazil Inter-Club Cup. The MVP of the tournament was Arthur Sabino, who hit .583 and was also voted Best Pitcher. This year’s tournament also featured a team from Brasilia, which traditionally has not been a baseball stronghold. You can see the tournament results on the CBBS website.

– Left handed Pitcher Edilson Novaes Batista, nicknamed Geléia and featured previously in this blog, has been signed by the Boston Red Sox. Geléia has been assigned to the Red Sox’s Dominican Rookie Summer League team.

– Brazil came in 5th place in the U-12 Panamerican Championships in Mazatlan, Mexico last month. You can see the Brazilian team results on this dedicated blog site (in Portuguese). Of particular note is Brazil’s continued domination of Panama (beginning with the WBC qualifying upsets in late 2012 in Panama City), where the U-12 guys took two wins over the Panamians in Mazatlan to secure the 5th place finish.

– Brazil came in 8th place in the U-15 World Baseball Championships that were held in Sinaloa, Mexico earlier this month. You can see all the results and stats from the tournament on the IBAF website.

– The classification phase of the CBBS-sanctioned 68th Annual Adult Brazilian Inter-Club Championships concluded last week. The teams that made it to the championship rounds include Nippon Blue Jays, Atibaia, Mogi das Cruzes, Maringá, Nikkei Curitiba and Marília.

– Speaking of the CBBS, earlier this month confederation president Jorge Otsuka met with visiting Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe, who brought along with him a donation of baseball and softball bats, gloves and balls compliments of Japanese baseball equipment maker Mizuno. The equipment will be distributed to players in the various local tournaments as well as be used by the national baseball and softball teams.

– In the amateur adult Liga São Paulo de Beisebol (LSPB), four teams have qualified for the double elimination round. Underdogs, Red Foxes, BATS and ANC Indians (making their first playoff appearance). The double elimination round schedule should be posted on the LSPB Facebook page shortly.

– Over in the other amateur adult Liga Paulista de Beisebol (LPB), Ibiúna Woodland (a new addition this season) sits atop Conference A and Piracicaba sits atop Conference B after 7 rounds of games. Updated info can be found on the LPB Facebook page.

– The amateur adult Liga Curitibana de Beisebol has also started its season and has completed the fourth round of games. You can also find updated information at their Facebook page.

– Baseball Live Brazil reported yesterday that the amateur Recife Imortaís baseball team has joined forces with the local soccer club Náutico to form a baseball school for kids aged 10-14 and devote an exclusive space at the club grounds for a baseball facility, with the idea of forming a little league in Recife. A presentation and exhibition game will be held at Náutico on September 22 and the CBBS, the local U.S. Consulate, Major League Baseball International and Little League Baseball will all be in attendance. The participation of the U.S. Consulate and MLBI in the event is fitting seeing as how it was the U.S. military that first brought baseball to the northeast of Brazil, if only for a short time, during World War II. More information can be found on the Baseball Live Brazil website.

July 1, 2014

As you can imagine, Brazil is pretty focused on the World Cup at the moment. There is, however, a good amount of baseball going on, both in-country and with Brazilians playing abroad. Here’s a review of what’s happened in the last month:

Nippon Blue Jays won the U16 16th Annual Brazilian Open Championships. This tournament featured a number of players who are on pro scouts’ radars, including NBJ’s own Gabriel Clovier, who was named MVP and Best Pitcher of the tournament, Gabriel Ferruci of Marilia, who hit a home run, Salomon Koba of NBJ, who drove in 6 runs and Leonardo Takaki of Nikkei Curitiba, who led the tournament with a .636 batting average. You can see all the results and stats on the CBBS website.

The Liga São Paulo de Beisebol is on a bit of mid-season break. The Red Foxes stand at the top of the table at 12-0, with the Underdogs right behind them at 11-1. You can see the full table, plus pictures of all the teams, on their Facebook page.

The Liga Paulista de Beisebol resumed play this month, playing a round of games this past weekend. It’s been hard to follow the schedule and standings on their Facebook page, but it’s good to see that the league carries on.

Earlier this month. Anhanguera beat Atibaia to win the 12th Annual Adult Paulista Championships. Former pro pitcher Jean Tome was on the losing end for Atibaia. You can find more information on the Baseball Live Brazil Facebook page.

There’s a great video of left handed pitcher Oscar Nakaoshi on the Baseball Live Brazil page. Nakaoshi is currently pitching in Japan for the semi-pro Honda team and has an ERA of 0.60 in 15 innings pitched over 9 games. Both Nakaoshi and Tome pitched on the Brazilian National Team that played in the last World Baseball Classic.

B-Live Brazil also has a nice little piece on left handed pitcher Edilson Batista of Marilia. Scouts have told him he needs to get his velocity up to 88 MPH. Considering he’s only 17 and already 6 ft 1 inches, he might just get there!

June 3, 2014

Happy June, and how fun is it to see Brazilian baseball history being made literally every day?

First of all, how about Paulo Orlando? On track to make the Triple A All Star Game due to his breakout 2014 campaign. Paulão is hitting .345 with an .853 OPS, along with 14 stolen bases (to 5 caught stealing). Given that, it’s definitely not out of the realm of possibility for Orlando to get a call up this season to the Big Leagues. Something would probably have to happen to the Royals’ starting centerfielder, Lorenzo Cain (who’s having a good season), or the backup Jarrod Dyson (who’s doing OK as well) for him to get the call. At any rate, Orlando is doing all he can to put himself in position to get promoted. Parabens, Paulo!

Up in The Show, Yan Gomes’ emerging leadership behind the plate and steady bat have helped the Indians stay relevant in the middle of the AL Central. Gomes’ maturity shouldn’t be surprising given how much high level baseball he has under his belt between college (both Tennessee and Barry University), as well 3 years in the minors and now into his third major league campaign. He’s on course to becoming an excellent field general. Don’t forget that his father in law is former MLB pitcher Atlee Hammaker, and his skipper is Tito.

Andre Rienzo had been pitching pretty effectively up until a weekend loss against the Padres, where it took him 80 pitches to get 10 outs. The prior three starts, however (against Oakland, KC and the Yankees), Rienzo had an ERA of 3.11 and WHIP of 1.10 with 19 strikeouts in 17.1 innings pitched. Personally, I was a little surprised White Sox manager Robin Ventura pulled Rienzo out of the game in the 4th, even with the high pitch count. Rienzo had runners at 1st and 3rd with one out and the White Sox were down 3 to 1 when he came out. Apparently Ventura didn’t think that Rienzo could induce an inning ending double play, which is what Rienzo’s replacement, reliever Scott Carroll, ended up doing.

Don’t forget about infielder Leonardo Reginatto, who is ripping it up in the Single A advanced Florida State League. Reginatto is hitting .326 with a .779 OPS, along with 11 steals (to 1 caught stealing) in 184 at bats for the Charlotte Stone Crabs (TB).

Reliever Thyago Vieira has put together a solid 2014 Single A Clinton Lumberjacks (SEA), going 1-1 with a 3.63 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 18 strikeouts and 1 Save in 17.1 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting just .228 against him.

On to baseball in Brazil, where a few tournaments have been going on in the month of May. Of particular note was the 14th annual U21 Brazilian Inter-Club Championship, which took place in Marília last weekend and which featured Atibaia beating GECEBS in the final. Vitor Souza of Atibaia had the best batting average of the tournament, hitting .474. His teammate, Lucas Sakay, scored the most runs in the tournament with 7. Rodolfo Lobo, also of Atibaia, led all base stealers with 3, and his teammate Lucas Tadokoro was awarded best pitcher and MVP of the Championship. As usual, more info can be found on the CBBS website.

Finally, in another sign that baseball continues to expand all over Brazil. The CBBS and the state baseball federation of Mato Grosso inaugurated a new baseball facility at the Asociação Nipo Oeste do Brasil in Cuiabá. You can watch the YouTube video of the event on the Baseball Live Brazil website. The event featured a “field of dreams’ style game of former great Brazilian players, and the facility itself was inagaurated by vice-Governor of Mato Grosso, Chico Daltro.

Cuiabá, by the way, happens to be one of the sites of the FIFA Soccer World Cup, which also happens to be starting this month. Pra frente, Brasil!

April 28, 2014

Bom Dia! As usual, there is a ton going on in the world of Brazilian Baseball and with the Brazilians playing pro ball. Here we go:

– Parabéns to Yan Gomes, who began this season as the starting catcher for the Cleveland Indians after signing a 6 year/$23 million contract. Though Yan had some early issues defensively behind the plate, he’s been carrying his weight on the offensive side and hit his 3rd home run of the season yesterday, while maintaning a .270 batting average and .772 OPS. In addition, Yan’s expected to go on paternity leave soon for the birth of his first child.

– Pitcher Andre Rienzo, who started off the season in Triple A, was called up to the White Sox on April 19 and had one inning of no-run relief against Texas, then pitched 6.1 innings of 4 run ball against the Tigers 3 days later (picking up the win). He’s scheduled to start tonight against Tampa Bay.

– Outfielder Paulo Orlando has had a nice start to the season with the Triple A Omaha Storm Chasers (KC), hitting .321 in 78 at-bats with 6 stolen bases so far.

– Back in Brazil, the powerful Nippon Blue Jays won both the U16 and U18 editions of the of the CBBS-sponsored Copa Seattle Mariners this past weekend. Diego Uehara from Nippon was named Best Pitcher and MVP of the U16 bracket and Gabriel Clovier, also of Nippon, was also named Best Pitcher and MVP of the U18 bracket. More info can be found on the CBBS website.

– The weekend of April 12 featured the 33rd annual U16 Brazilian Baseball Inter-Selections (all-star) championships in Marília. Paulista, comprised of players from CBBS club teams in the outskirst of the city of São Paulo, won the 7-team tourney. Paulista’s Igor Januario was the home run king and Renan Lima took home the MVP and Best Catcher awards.

– Last month Baseball Live Brazil, a recently launched website dedicated to information and live video streaming of Brazilian baseball, televised games between visiting Japanese university NITTAI and Anhanguera. The hope is that they continue to carry more CBBS club games.

– Over in the Liga São Paulo de Beisebol, the Red Foxes remain at the top of the table with an 8-0 record, followed by the Underdogs at 7-1 and a three-way tie for 3rd by Bats, the Indians and FEA-USP (4-4). Check back to the LSPB Facebook page for schedules on the next live streaming games bySTI Esporte.

March 17, 2014

Though St. Patrick’s Day isn’t as big in Brazil than it is in the U.S., Brazilians can still appreciate wearing green and having a good reason to party. There’s also plenty to celebrate on the Brazilian baseball scene at the moment, here are some quick updates:

– The Liga São Paulo de Beisebol (LSPB) started up its regular season yesterday. Defending 2013 champions Underdogs have already positioned themselves at the top of the standings with 2 wins, along with the Red Foxes and newcomers the Indians. The LSPB’s Facebook page continues to be the primary source of updated information for the league, including results, standings and other information.

– One of the big new announcements from the LSPB is their partnership this season with STI Esporte and Radio Paraty, who will be broadcasting LSPB games both live on the internet and on radio. Check back to STI Esporte’s baseball page to get information on the next broadcasts.

– Over in the CBBS, Pereira Barreto continued its winning ways by taking home the U-11 17th Annual Honorio Mukai Cup yesterday in Ibiuna. Stats from the tournament can be found here.

– Another piece of interesting news out of the CBBS is that the Nippon Sports Science University (NITTAIDAI) baseball team is touring Brazil and playing in different cities around the country. You can see their tour schedule here.

– On a more social note, here’s a pretty cool picture of some of the top Brazilian players currently in U.S. Spring Training. Apparently these guys were able to get together one evening while in Arizona. From left to right are Daniel Missaki (SEA), Rodrigo Takahashi (AZ), Felipe Caldeira (Brazil natl. pitching coach), Paulo Orlando (KC), Luis Gohara (SEA), Yan Gomes (CLE), Andre Rienzo (CWS) and Thiago Vieira (SEA).

Brazil All-Stars - photo credit CBBS

– Finally, Brazil National Team Manager and Hall of Famer Barry Larkin was hanging out in São Paulo this weekend, watching his daughter, singer Cymcolé perform at a local club. Cymcolé is well known in Brazil for singing the theme song to a popular Brazilian soap opera called Avenida Brasil. More pics of the night can be found on the Baseball Live Brazil Facebook page.